Excavating-machine.



G, M. RICE.

EXCAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I4, 1915.

Patented May 1, 1917.

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EXCAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION man IUNE 14. 1915.

Patented May 1, 1917.

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G. M. RICE.

EXCAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14, 1 5- 1,224,323. Patented May1,1917.

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GEORGE 1V1. RICE, OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO MALCOLM MACKAY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

EXCAVATING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1, 1917.

Application filed June 14, 1915. Serial No. 33,900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. Bron, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Lancaster and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Excavating-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to excavating machines, and has for its object to produce a machine for digging basements or ditches. More specifically my object is to produce a machine embodying a bed frame provided with wheels which can be set for travel to and from the place of operation and for ditch digging or which can be set for lateral travel when the machine is set for making a basement excavation; a truck adjustable longitudinally of and upon the bed frame and equipped with digging, elevating and discharging mechanism; an engine for imparting travel to the bed frame or for operating the digging, elevating and discharging mechanism; means for steering the bed frame, and means for adjusting the digging mechanism to or from operative position.

With this general object in view, the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization of parts as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, is a plan view of an excavating machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2, is a side elevation of the machine.

Fig. 3, is a vertical section taken on the line III-III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4, is a vertical section taken on the dotted line IV of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5, is an enlarged detail perspective view of one of the excavating buckets and part of the conveyer therefor.

In the said drawings, 1 is an oblong rectangular frame of considerable length, mounted at its rear end upon a rotatable shaft or axle 2, equipped with carrying wheels 3 and projecting rearwardly from said axle is a pair of stub axles or arms 4, upon which the wheels may be 'journaled when it is desired to impart lateral or transverse travel ,to the machine, as hereinafter referred to.

At the front end of the machine and pivoted to a cross bar thereof at 5 is a pair of ordinary steering knuckles 6 upon which are journaled the front carrying wheels 7, and connecting the steering knuckles is the customary rod 8. 9 is a rod connected to rod 8 and to a crank arm 10 of a vertical steering shaft or column 11, journaled in a bracket or standard 12 upon the frame and equipped at its upper end with a sprocket wheel 13, to which motion is imparted to operate the crank arm and thereby shift the wheels 7 from the position shown in full lines to the position shown in dotted lines or vice Versa.

14 are parallel rack bars mounted upon the sides of the frame, and arranged above the latter is a truck 15, provided with double side bars 16, within which are ournaled peripherally grooved carrying wheels 17 which run upon the sides of the frame 1 astride the rack bars 14, so that the latter shall prevent lateral displacement or movement of wheels 17 upon the sides of frame 1. 18 are toothed wheels mounted rigidly upon opposite ends of a shaft 19, journaled in the sides of the truck, and engaging the rack bars 14. The toothed wheel 20 is also mounted rigidly on shaft '19 and is engaged by ratchet mechanism 21 carried by a lever 22 pivoted on said shaft, so that the operation of said lever shall impart rotation to the shaft and wheels 18 and therefore cause the truck to travel forwardly or rearwardly, as the case may be, upon the wheeled frame 1.

23 is a sprocket wheel journaled on the truck 15 and connected by a sprocket chain 24 to sprocket wheel 13, and detachably engaging the sprocket wheel 23 is a steering column 25 which, when turned in one'direction or the other, transmits power through chain 24 to effect the adjustments of the wheel 7, hereinbefore mentioned. In this connection it is well to note that when the truck is to be adjusted upon the wheeled frame 1, the steering column 25 will be removed and the chain 24 thrown off, as the chain would be in the way of the truck when the latter moved forward and would limit the movement of the truck in the opposite direction.

26 is an internal combustion engine or other motor, mounted upon the truck 15 and belted or otherwise geared at 27 to a large wheel 28, secured on a transverse shaft 29, journaled in bearingsSO, one of the bearings being mounted upon one of the sides of the truck and the other upon a standard 31, upon a skeleton frame 31 carried by the truck, and 32 and 33 are gear pinions secured upon shaft 29 adjacent wheel 28, pinion 33 being somewhat smaller than pinion 32.

34: is a gear wheel meshing with'pinion 33 and journaled upon a short shaft mounted in bearing standards 36 upon frame'3l 37 is a gear heel splined or keyed upon a short shaft 38, suitably jour naled upon frame 31 and 39 is a lever fulcrumed at. 40 upon frame 31 and yoked conventionally at 41 to the wheels 37 so that the latter may be snifted upon its shaft and caused to engage wheel or wheel 34:, accordingly as it is desired to rotate. shaft 38 in one direction or the other.

42 is a sprocket wheel mounted on shaft 38 and connected by a sprocket wheel A l on the shaft or axle 2, so that the power of the engine may be utilized to effect propulsion forwardly or rearwardly of the wheeled frame, as is necessary when traveling to or from the place of operations or when it may be desirable to back the wheeled frame a short distance.

Arranged near the rear end of the machine is a pair of vertical guide bars 45, the same being slidable up and down upon the truck 15 and braces 46 carried thereby. Said bars are connected together at their lower ends and are attached by a cable 47 to a reel or drum a8, mounted upon a transverse shaft 49, journaled in bearings 50, carried by the truck.

becured to the upper ends of the bars 45 is a hopper 51 arranged to discharge upon an endless conveyer 52, extending transversely beyond the side of the machine and adapted to discharge into any suitable receptacle, such as a loading wagon or cart driven alongside the machine. At the end of the conveyor which underlies the hopper it extends over a driven roller 53, journaled in brackets 54, projecting from bars 45 and the hopper. A roller 53? at the opposite end ofthe conveyer is supported by and journaled inthe upper ends of a pair of inclined braces 53, secured at their lower ends to the adjacent side of the truck. The shaft of roller 53 carries a pulley 55 connected by a belt 56 to a pulley 57 on a transverse shaft 58, 'journaled upon the hopper. Secured to said shaft at opposite sides of the hopper is a pair of large sprocket wheels 59 engaged by endless sprocket chains 60, which also engage sprocket wheels (31, on shaft 29 and sprocket wheels 62, journaled on the ends of a hollow cylinder 63, adapted to be heavily loaded, as with sand, for the purpose of holding the endless chains taut. I

The cylinder is provided with an opening c losedby an ordinary hand-hole plate 65. Arranged between and rigidly secured to the endless chains at regular intervals are excavating buckets 66, the ends of the buckets flaring to the planes of the outer sides of the chains at 67, so that the front or cutting edges of the buckets shall scoop or scrape a surface equal in width to the distance between the outer sides of the chains, and to make this scooping or scraping action more effective, the front edge of the bucket is provided with projecting cutting fingers 68.

To enable the buckets to perform their scooping or scraping functions in the easiest manner, cutting disks 69 are secured to the outer sides of the chains and are of diameter to project slightly beyond the receiving edges of the buckets so that they shall make shallow parallel cuts in the ground to be excavated, the flaring portions of the buckets catching the excavated earth in front of the chains and deflecting it inwardly.

Assuming that the parts are arranged as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and it is desired to start the digging of a ditch, the operator first throws off or demounts the chain 24 and the drive chain 43. The operator then throws dog 18 into engagement with the adjacent wheel 18 so as to lock the truck against accidental travel, and starts the engine so that its belt wheel shall turn in the direction indicated. by the adjacent arrow, Fig. 2, and thus through wheel 28 drive shaft 29. Before this shaft-is started however the sprocket wheels 61 are interlocked with the shaft. As shown the said sprocket wheels are mounted upon a sleeve 6.1, mounted on shaft 29, and the sleeve is fastened by a cotter pin 61 v to said shaft so that rotation of the shaft shall impart movement to the endless chains, in the direction indi cated by the adjacent arrow, Fig. 2.

In the initial part of the cuttingv operation, the sliding guide bars 4:5] are raised their full height so that the lower end of the chains held taut by the weighted cylinder shall clear the ground and thus not interfere with the travel of the machine to, and from the place of operation. As the. operation starts, however, as explained, the operator trips pawl 70 from engagement with ratchet wheel 71, mounted on the reel shaft 49. The operator, by gripping the. lever 72 carrying pawl 7 3 engaging the ratchet wheel 71, can restrain the gravitative action or tendency of the weighted end of the chains so that the buckets shall not out too deeply. The cutting action takes place as the buckets successively travel around or under the weighted cylinder or drum. As each bucket makes its-cut a little deeper than the preceding bucket eventually an excavation is made which corresponds approximately to thewidth of the cutting buckets, the rear wall of the excavation being vertical and the front wall being pitched upwardly and forwardly at an angle corresponding to the corresponding part of the chains. After an excavation is made to the requisite depth, the operator, through the manipulation of lever 22, adjusts the truck an inch or fraction thereof toward the front end of the wheeled frame so that thereafter the buckets and other cutting elements cut only from a point directly below the axis of the sprocket wheels 62, and thence as they travel upward to the surface of the ground, the operator through the lever 22 keeping the inclined portion of the excavating mechanism pressed against the inclined bank so that the buckets shall successively scoop or scrape earth therefrom and thus gradually increase the length of the ditch, it being understood, of course, that the guides receive the thrust of the excavating devices behind them and thus hold said devices to their work.

WVhen the truck has been adjusted for wardly as far as practicable, the limit in the length of the excavation is reached, unless the wheeled frame is shifted which, of course, is accomplished if a long ditch is to be made. If, however, it is desired to make a ditch corresponding in one dimension to that indicated in Fig. 2, but wider than the cutting mechanism, the operator, before starting the excavating mechanism, adjusts the front wheels to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, and removes the rear wheels and places them upon the stub axles 4. With the wheels thus positioned the machine can be pushed laterally after the first excavation is made, a distance equal to the width of said excavation, but before the op erator makes this adjustment, it is necessary to manipulate the lever 72 so that through the action of pawl 73 on wheel 71, he can wind up the cable 47 and thus slide the guide bars vertically upward until the weighted lower end of the chains clears the ground. After the wheeled frame hasbeen shifted laterally to its new position, as explained, the truck is moved rearward again so as to be ready to widen the excavation already made, the operation being a repetition of that described.

It will thus be seen that it is possible to make an excavation in the form of a straight narrow ditch or an excavation suitable for a basement. In the event it is necessary to back the machine it can be accomplished by operating lever 39 so as to shift wheel 37 from engagement with wheel 32 into engagement with wheel 34:, so that power shall be transmitted from shaft 29 through wheel 3 to wheel 37 and therefore effect reverse or backward movement of wheels 3.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a machine embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the 5 object of the invention and while I have provided with supporting wheels and longi tudinal parallel tracks, a wheeled truck mounted on the tracks of the bed frame, an engine mounted on the wheeled truck, a shaft geared to the engine, demountable driving connections between said shaft and, Q

the rear wheels of the bed frame, and demountable steering connections between the wheeled truck and the front wheels of the bed frame.

2. In an excavating machine, a bed frame provided with supporting wheels and longitudinal parallel tracks, a wheeled truck mounted on the tracks of the bed frame, an

engine mounted on the wheeled truck, a shaft geared to the engine, demountable driving connections between said shaft and the rear wheels of the bed frame, means for reversing the action of said driving connections, and demountable steering connections between the wheeled truck and the front wheels of the bed frame.

3. In an excavating machine, a bed frame provided with supporting wheels and longitudinal parallel tracks, a wheeled truck mounted on the tracks of the bed frame, an engine mounted on the wheeled truck, a driving shaft mounted on the truck and geared to the engine, vertically adjustable guides carried by the truck, sprocket wheels suitably supported at the upper ends of said guides, sprocket wheels mounted on said driven shaft, parallel sprocket chains engaging the sprocket wheels carried by said guides and the sprocket wheels mounted on said shaft, weighted sprocket wheels engaging the chains below the truck and holding them taut with the portions of the chains extending directly from the last-named sprocket wheels to the first-named sprocket wheels, substantially vertical and at the rear sides of said guide bars, and excavating devices carried by and located between said chains and adapted to perform their excavating functions as they travel under said weighted sprockets and upwardly of said guide bars.

4. In an excavating machine, a bed frame provided with supporting wheels and longitudinal parallel tracks, a wheeled truck mounted on the tracks of the bed frame, an engine mounted on the wheeled truck, a driving shaft mounted on the truck and geared to the engine, vertically adjustable guides carried by the truck, sprocket wheels suitably supported at the upper ends of said guides, sprocket wheels mounted on said driven shaft, parallel sprocket chains engaging the sprocket wheels carried by said guides and the sprocket wheels mounted on said shaft, weighted sprocket wheels engaging the chains below the truck and holding them taut with the portions of the chains extending directly from the last-named sprocket wheels to the first-named sprocket wheels, substantially vertical and at the rear sides of said guide bars] excavating devices carried by and located between said chains and adapted to perform their excavating functions as they travel forwardly under said weighted sprockets, a reel journaled upon the truck, a cable connecting the reel with the lower part oflthe guide bars, means for operating the reel to raise the guide bars and the parts supported therefrom, and means to prevent back rotation of the reel.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE M. RICE.

Witnesses:

H. S. BELL, C. H. BARSTOW.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D; C. 

